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mckee1

459 karma · joined January 2, 2013

Software Engineer/technology enthusiast.
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mckee1··on Sam Altman is at OpenAI (with a guest pass)
I hope he keeps that guest pass - it is going to become a collectors item in decades to come.
mckee1··on Ousted OpenAI CEO Altman planning new AI venture, sources say
I suppose if the new 'venture' is for-profit it might give credence to the view that Altman and the board diverged because of his desire to turn OpenAI toward exactly that.
mckee1··on How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
There are many, many life lessons I have drawn from my youth spent playing poker semi-professionally. Perhaps the most consistently useful one was that, as mentioned in the article, one's performance should not be assessed purely on the outcome.

In poker, you can play perfectly and still lose. That is true in almost every field of life. Or, to give it more nuance, you can play exceptionally well and only win a little, whereas someone has had greater luck can play relatively poorly and win a lot.

mckee1··on Tuvalu Makes $4M a Year
This led me to look up whether the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Islands), and therefore the British Government, received any money as a result of the .io domain.

It appears not. [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io

[1] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldtoday/writtens/11...

mckee1··on WhatsApp has introduced a feature that allows users to send and receive money
They've been testing it in India for around 2 years, but had been held up in releasing it more widely there by regulators.

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/whatsapp-pay...

mckee1··on Alcohol Belts of Europe
I'm not sure this is really reflected in reality, perhaps aside from the 65+ generation. I grew up in Scotland, and it was very much a beer drinking culture.
mckee1··on NASA said to be investigating first allegation of a crime in space
Yes, just as earth nations currently have leverage against hundreds or thousands of ships of freight corporations.
mckee1··on Great Talks Most People Have Never Heard
JK Rowling's commencement address is exceptional. One of the best speeches I've listened to.
mckee1··on What is it like working at a company after releasing a negatively-received game?
The point about 'getting used' to poor features, or indeed even bugs, applies not just to video games but any type of software you work on for a long time (especially personal projects, where you don't have a QA team).

This will no doubt be familiar to many of us on HN.

mckee1··on Lyft Files S-1
There is a free McDonald’s restaurant in the corporate headquarters, but there’s also a deli counter which has fresh sandwiches, as well as a counter for other hot meals (chilli, chicken curry (UK) etc.

Source: work for McDonald’s head office.

mckee1··on Apple, Goldman Sachs Team Up on Credit Card Paired with iPhone
This could obviously have a substantial impact on challenger banks like Monzo (which I use and love). Not least because it would get around the regulatory challenges they face in the US.
mckee1··on Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use Our iPhones Like This
Perhaps Jobs didn't appreciate the full extent to which their product would transform humanity, but that is not necessarily the same thing as him not wanting, or opposing, us using our iPhones as much as we do.

I understand the desire for a backlash on smartphones, but their ubiquity is simply a demonstration of just how much utility we derive from them.

mckee1··on Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900
Possibly the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Japan/South Korea that year.
mckee1··on Show HN: Twiverse – Find Twitter users and get more followers
This is a fantastic idea. Ignore the negativity, particularly from the "what about the men" comments.

Super cool!

mckee1··on The State of JavaScript 2018
On the demographic map of respondents, you say England when you presumably mean the UK. There is a difference!
mckee1··on Inside Silicon Valley, Many Have Long Known Sheryl Sandberg Isn’t a Saint
The headline and tone of the article implies that they have evidence of some underhand or nasty behaviour by Sandberg. But there is none - having the political intelligence to make the most of a photocall does not make you a bad person.
mckee1··on Ask HN: Other online communities like HN?
For frequent flyers, FlyerTalk is excellent.

It could also be described as the birthplace of WhatsApp, in which one of the co-founders asked for 'thoughts on my free iphone app'[0], which is amusing in retrospect.

[https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/952359-tho...]

mckee1··on Wired Interviews Bill Gates (1996) [video]
"There will be no content club in my life time with $4 billion revenue...you are on drugs if you think that".

Netflix revenue last year was $11.6 billion.

Fascinating interview.

mckee1··on Facebook hires Nick Clegg as head of global affairs
Funnily enough, I had a meeting with Nick a few months ago (about Brexit) and he mentioned being out in SV as part of work his organisation was doing. I suspect that may have not been the full truth..

His organisation, Open Europe, employed 6 people. I wonder if they will follow him to FB.

For what it's worth, given his domain expertise (particularly the EU), I think it is a fantastic hire.

mckee1··on Uber drivers win employee rights case
Sorry I should clarify - not that much cheaper than private hire taxis I meant, ie Addison Lee.
mckee1··on Uber drivers win employee rights case
Uber aren't profitable as it is (and their prices aren't that much cheaper than taxi's in the UK - so they can't just price hike without losing large numbers of customers).

I assume their strategy for profitability now, in the UK at least, is just take VC money until driverless cars are legalised.

mckee1··on [dead]
Uber in the UK's prices aren't that much lower than standard taxi's, and they're not profitable as it is.

The strategy now must just be taking VC money until driverless cars are legalised.

mckee1··on Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B
It'll be interesting to see how they integrate LinkedIn with Yammer (if they do at all). Particularly with the launch of Facebook at Work recently too.
mckee1··on Uber’s No-Holds-Barred Expansion Strategy Fizzles in Germany
I was in Berlin earlier last year and I was surprised at just how excellent the taxi's were, especially in comparison to the UK. As you say, all clean, high quality cars.
mckee1··on Show HN: Open Hunt – an open and community-run alternative to Product Hunt
Where is the feedback shown? I have submitted "Too" and it says one person has left feedback but I can't see it anywhere (I am logged in with the account that submitted).
mckee1··on Let Twitter Be Twitter
I know someone with a verified status on Twitter and they did not pay anything.
mckee1··on My Livecoding.tv account deletion saga
Their wikipedia page[1] appears to have been edited by the founder too. (In which the company is described as a "multinational").

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livecoding.tv

mckee1··on How much is Reddit making from Reddit gold?
Those numbers would be impressive for a good restaurant, not a site 10's of millions of MAU.
mckee1··on Google rejects EU's search abuse complaint
Otherwise known as the will of democratically elected governments.
mckee1··on Google rejects EU's search abuse complaint
While I share your sentiment, the case with MS was different because they were coercing hardware manufacturers into not bundling Netscape by threatening to revoke their Windows licence. Google aren't revoking access to their other, primary product if you use Yelp, Bing Maps etc.
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